The Fioretti is a literary journal consisting of original submissions and editing from contributing students at Marian University, Indianapolis.

Date Digital

2011

Type

Periodicals, Text

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Copyright 2012 Marian University (Indianapolis, Indiana). Users of this material are kindly requested to appropriate credit to Marian University in compliance with copyright and intellectual property law. Under Title 17, U.S. Code, this material may be protected by United States Copyright Law governing the reproduction, distribution, display or other uses of protected works.

MARIAN COLLEGE
Indianapolis, Indiana
LITERARY ANTHOLOGY
VOLUME ~L
NO. :L
19'83- 8¥
WINTER/ Sally Lorenz
A PASTORAL/ Terence Hanley 5
REClIDrno TIDES/ Ellen M. Petraits 8
HAlKU/ Drew Appleby 10
THE TIES THAT BIND/ Jill Thompson 11
HAlKU/ Drm-1 Appleby 27
HIS CHIEF / Julie Nigro 29
. '
THE BRUSHES ARE DRY/ Michael Dugan 30
DeVINE JUDGMENT/ Audrey Pearson 32
A POEl1/ Jack Groves 37
THE GREAT WHITE BIRD/ Maureen Sheehan 38
SUMMER SH~~/ Julie Nigro ho
C()V1ill/ Patrice Will
pp. 1, 6, 7, 101 Patrice Will
pp. 28, J.t.ol Julie Nigro
. LETTERn~G/ Sister Stella
Debbie Sears
Kent Daniels
Sister Stella
Debbie Sears
Michae 1 Dugan
Terence Hanley
Sister M. Stella Gampfer, OSF
gj{yre£
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.'" SPR/A/G
~~nJ
cffJb~iat .
~ Jaehee ff~y
It uas hot. No one could remember vIhen it
wasn't hot. It had rained sometime-- about a
month before, bu tit 1·ms only a spit of rain.
'l11e earth ~'ms Grey du st uhcn the rain came. A
fe'lv drops foIl and r,lade little pits like moon
craters, and then the rain moved on. And all the
time, the sun Has shining, even durinG the rain.
The sun vmsnlt up yet, but it was hot. The
windows ~mro open, but you wouldn It know it.
Cooper could feel J.iadge near him. She wasn't more
than a foot a'.imy in the dark, lying next to him
on the bed. He could feel her heat and smell her
and feel the sole of her foot against his leg.
It was very still and dark and hot in the room.
Cooper got up and the bedsprings squeaked.
He didn It hear Badge, so he knew she was at-rake.
'He pulled on his trousers and his boots; he
didn't bother wi tl1 a shirt. He felt there in the
corner and found the gun and got a box of cartridges
off the top of the dresser.
"Coop. II
He looked over into the dark, but he couldn't
see anything. He t-lent out of the room and closed
the door behind.
"Coop."
l'ladGe lay avra!:e in the dark and l.oJai ted. The
waitinG tlaS terrible. Her stomach churned, and
she s'.mated, but she didn It move. It was almost
a relief 1.-Ihen the shot came. She was startled by
the suddonness of it. It seemed like it \Vent on for
a long time: rushed across miles of dusty earth,
struck the fara\·my hills and came back again. When
the second shot came, she got up and slipped into a
gingham dress. She Hent out of the room and into
the kitchen.
s
It was dark, but not as dark as the bedroom.
She turned on the stove and put the skillet do~m
on the burner. There was still grease in it
from the day before. It slovrly melted as she
beat the mix for the Hheat cakes.
She heard a third and fourth shot.
One more.
It came.
The wheat cakes sputtered in the skillet.
She turned them. She heard Coop on the porch.
He came in the door and t·mnt into the bedroom.
He came back Hithout the gun and. sat at the table.
Madr,e said, "How many do you want?"
He was quiet for a r:loment. Then he said, III
don't want any breakfast."
trWby not?"
"I couldn't eat nm-I."
She turned off the fire and put the 'cakes on
a plate. She scraped the last of the butter from
a piece of wax paper and put it on the cakes. It
melted and she sat across from him. She cut them
up vr.i,th her fork and took a bite. It didn't taste
eood. She couldn't eat anymore.
They sat across from one another. It became
lighter in the room.
".1hat about the carcasses'?" Hadge said at last.
"Jim Feller said he'd haul them aHay for me. II
"That's nice of him."
"Yeah."
6
't6t4fPee:ad .d;O/44£/
ez/en Ikfof,4 bPe ~~-.­&
L'Uun
'7
-1}eedL~ ~d&l
b~ E/bh-~/)aa;o
"Well, what do you think?" It was a
question I felt the anst-Ter to before he drew 011 t
one of his lonE; sighs. He "Tas uncomfortable 1-Then
he knei-T I was 100kinE; at him. He stared straight
ahead. The uneasiness may have come from a lack
of social contact or from hearing a familiar
question come from someone else. He Has dismiss­ing
my presence, tryinE; to regain the security of
silence we had driven in for the past half hour.
I looked at him again. He shifted gears, slmved
down, and pulled off to the side of the road.
"You know, t-Te're lost." I hadn't been paying
attention to signs or turnoffs or anything. The
night had a l-1ay of ma:dng people forget "There
they 1·18re going. All the cars that passed us
were simply beinE; pulled by some invisible force
creatinE; the illusion of a destination. They
were all lost, some just chose not to ackno~'lledge
it.
"Should 1-1e turn around then?"
"Yeah, a long '.-Iays back I must have gotten
. conTused, I'll turn around. Sorry about the delay. !I
1 didn't mind but I had the feeline he 't-Tanted
to open his door and jump out. \ve started back
east and I resumed the one-sided conversation I'd
been having Hith myself.
"Don't He all possess some potential for
human fu1fillment?" In the next f9'l.-T moments I
could not imagine the response I would get from
him. Something broke from Hithin, a force that
had been caged too long. The horn bellowed, a great
tenseness came over him and he let out a broad,
hoarse yell. My .eyes were fixed on this face I had
never seen before. I tool< them off of him long
enOUGh to check the road to r:1ake sure 1'18 ~1eren' t
about to crash. The road ahead l-1aS empty and I
noticed for the first time that it had been raining.
At that instant 1m ',mre a '.mrld in ourselves. The
lira ts of the car vlere all :ve kne'lT, all :-18 cared
to knol'1.
He began to talk. I listened to this new
voice. 'rhe Hords clotted in the l-1ell of his
throat and shivered as they touched the air. If
it had been sor.le other lanL'1lage I would have
understood him no less. TIle words lulled me into
his past. The small ones told of the emptiness
the death of a brother leaves. Parents grieve for
a child and kill the Ii ving one. Bigger t-lords
told of the resentment they shoHed tm-lard him and
what they sa-a as lack of concern for a child
sl